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Profile of Subra Suresh PROFILE PROFILE Profile of Subra Suresh Sandeep Ravindran, Science Writer During his long and distinguished career, Subra Foundation (NSF) of the United States. Now President Suresh has made crucial contributions to the field of of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, engineering. While finishing up high school in India in Suresh continues to push forward in research with his the 1970s, however, Suresh was not even sure of recent work on deforming nanoscale diamond. In his going to college, let alone becoming an engineer. Inaugural Article (1), Suresh and his colleagues show Nonetheless, Suresh decided to take a shot at the computationally that it is possible to make nanoscale entrance examination for the prestigious Indian Insti- diamond behave like a metal with respect to select tutes of Technology. “A month before my exam, I properties, which would open up a wide array of ap- bought a book to prepare and worked through some plications in microelectronics, optoelectronics, and practice questions and just thought, go try it,” Suresh solar energy. says. “To my surprise, I got in.” His degree in mechan- ical engineering from Indian Institutes of Technology Spanning Many Disciplines Madras would turn out to be the starting point of a After obtaining his bachelor’s degree at Indian Insti- wide-ranging research career. tutes of Technology Madras, a scholarship offer led Suresh’s research interests would eventually span Suresh to attend Iowa State University for a Master’s engineering, basic science, and medicine. His multi- degree in mechanical engineering. When he left for disciplinary work led to elected memberships in all the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) two three US National Academies: The National Academy years later for a doctorate, Suresh joined the materials of Engineering in 2002, the National Academy of Sci- group in mechanical engineering, beginning his foray ences in 2012, and the National Academy of Medicine into materials science. in 2013. After just a year and a half into his doctoral work at Suresh has held several prestigious positions, from MIT, Suresh’s thesis committee deemed he was ready being dean of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s to receive a doctorate. “I was just stunned when they School of Engineering and president of Carnegie told me I was ready to defend my ScD [Doctor of Mellon University to leading the National Science Science] thesis,” he says. Suresh had finished so quickly that he was not yet sure about the next step. So, when his thesis advisor moved to the University of California, Berkeley, and offered him a postdoctoral fellowship, Suresh accepted. After two years at Berkeley, Brown University of- fered Suresh a faculty position. “They were looking for someone to bridge mechanical engineering and ma- terials science, and they thought I would be the right candidate for it,” says Suresh. “That’s how I migrated more and more into materials science,” he says. Brown granted Suresh tenure in less than three years, and during his 10 years there Suresh worked mainly on structural materials, such as steel, aluminum, and ce- ramics, work that culminated in his first book, Fatigue of Materials (2). Before long, MIT approached him, looking for a materials science professor with a background in mechanical engineering. “They made me an offer I couldn’t say no to, and so I went back to MIT as the Subra Suresh. Image credit: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. R. P. Simmons Professor in 1993,” says Suresh. With a Published under the PNAS license. This is a Profile of a member of the National Academy of Sciences to accompany the member’s Inaugural Article, 10.1073/pnas.2013565117. First published October 5, 2020. 25192–25194 | PNAS | October 13, 2020 | vol. 117 | no. 41 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2018742117 Downloaded at MIT LIBRARIES on October 30, 2020 joint appointment in materials science and mechanical several initiatives over the next four years. These engineering, Suresh changed his research focus from programs included the Global Learning Council to large structures to small ones. He worked mainly on accelerate the impact of technology-enhanced learn- microelectronics and film coatings, work that led to a ing, an ambitious infrastructure development effort, a second book, Thin Film Materials (3). Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Presidential In 2003, Suresh pivoted again, this time to bio- Fellowships and Scholarships Program to support top medical sciences and engineering. “We started look- students. During his tenure as president, Carnegie ing at red blood cells and the connection between Mellon University’s undergraduate freshman class in mechanical properties at the cellular and molecular the School of Computer Science comprised a record level, and human diseases, such as malaria and sickle 48% of women students, three times the United States cell anemia,” he says. Over the next several years, national average. Suresh and his research group published prolifically at the intersection of engineering and physiology (4–7). Improving the Performance of Diamonds In 2010, Suresh was offered a challenge on a dif- In 2017, Suresh was appointed president of Nanyang “ ferent scale. President Obama nominated me to be Technological University, Singapore. While helming a ” the director of the National Science Foundation, says major research university, he also began research on “ Suresh. That was a great honor when the White nanoscale diamonds. ” House called. “We had a hypothesis that materials often behave surprisingly differently at the nanoscale than at the Driving Innovation at the NSF macro- or even micro-scale,” says Suresh. In addition As director of the NSF, Suresh launched the Innova- to being the hardest material, diamond is extremely tion Corps (I-Corps), an initiative aimed at helping brittle. “If you try to break it, nothing will happen at researchers across the country commercialize their first until you impose a very high load, and then all of a “ discoveries from basic research. I felt that there was a sudden it will crack and break catastrophically,” says ’ lot of very good science that s funded by NSF with Suresh. “When we go to the nanoscale, things be- taxpayer funds that could potentially lead to compa- come stronger, there is more surface area per unit nies or economic value or patents, but that never sees volume, and the density of defects becomes smaller. the light of day,” he says. “I believe that any smart, So we thought nanodiamond might behave differently young person anywhere can come up with a brilliant than bulk diamond that you can buy in a store,” idea,” says Suresh. “But if you happen to be in a place says Suresh. where there’s no infrastructure for commercialization, In a 2018 study, Suresh and his colleagues grew no matter how good an idea you have, it doesn’t have synthetic diamond needles tens of nanometers in di- a chance to come to fruition,” he says. ameter and a few hundred nanometers in length on a Through the I-Corps, researchers could submit a silicon surface (8). Whereas bulk diamond would typ- short proposal to take their existing research beyond ically fracture if pushed beyond a strain of ∼0.15%, the publications. “If your proposal is accepted you’ll re- nanoneedles of diamond could be experimentally ceive a small grant, on the order of $50,000, for a short bent all of the way up to a local maximum strain of period of time—six months to one year—to explore if more than 9% and still return to their original shape. your idea has any chance of going further,” says “ Suresh. After a year of funding, researchers could To our surprise, we could actually bend the needle ” “ evaluate whether their idea had any chance of suc- like you would bend a paperclip, says Suresh. We ceeding, in which case they could found a company or had to videotape the experiment to convince ou- look for outside funding to take the idea further. “NSF rselves and others that you can actually bend dia- ” is just a facilitator, to enable the connections and the mond, he says. Independent validation followed networking,” says Suresh. within a year when a group in China reproduced the Suresh launched I-Corps in 2011 with $6 million of results using natural diamond (9). the NSF’s then $7 billion budget, but the initiative has Bending diamond is not just a matter of intellectual since come a long way. “To my pleasant surprise, it curiosity. Diamond has appealing properties not only has become one of the most successful programs as the hardest material found in nature, but also as a now,” says Suresh. I-Corps now has an annual budget semiconductor. Previous research had shown that of $30 million and has funded more than 1,200 pro- straining silicon could improve its semiconductor jects between 2012 and 2018 across 247 United properties by changing its band gap. “If we can bend States universities, which directly led to 577 compa- a nanoscale diamond by 9%, maybe you can change nies. The program has spawned numerous imitators, the band gap by straining on demand without not just at other United States agencies, such as the changing chemistry,” says Suresh. Modulating the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of band gap of diamond solely through mechanical Health, but across the world, including in Ireland, means could lead to numerous practical applications Australia, and Singapore. “They all have I-Corps–like in solar cells, optoelectronics, and microelectronics. programs now,” says Suresh. “So this is one of the In a 2019 article (10), Suresh and his collaborators most satisfying things I did at the NSF,” he says. showed computationally that straining diamond could After his stint at the NSF, Suresh became president potentially change its band gap from 5.6 eV to ∼2to3 of Carnegie Mellon University in 2013 and launched eV, bringing it within the range of currently used Ravindran PNAS | October 13, 2020 | vol.
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